Urban v's the Commentariat

[Bakunin]

I will, of course, be avail\able to inform her of the incident involving the pineapple

At least you don't know about the time I was in a pubful of pissed-up bootnecks and some idiot (who wasn't me) boozily bellowed the dreaded phrase 'Naked bar!'

And I wasn't ejected from the same establishment after being found lying on the bar with my head under a flowing beer tap, either.

Just saying, like.

 

[toggle]

never mind telling her, tell the rest of us.

you will find out.

eventually

 

[ViolentPanda]

I will, of course, be avail\able to inform her of the incident involving the pineapple

never mind the pineapple, what about the melons?

 

[toggle]

never mind the pineapple, what about the melons?

there's a limit to how much i'[m prepared to talk about. without an offer of cash payment.

 

[ViolentPanda]

there's a limit to how much i'[m prepared to talk about. without an offer of cash payment.

 

[toggle]

there's a limit to how much i'm prepared to discuss for free, and i'm already organising a couple of intervirews in the next week

 

[emanymton]

there's a limit to how much i'[m prepared to talk about. without an offer of cash payment.

10p?

 

[toggle]

10p?

and not even a biccy as well.

 

[Fedayn]

Oh dear.....

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed1m
People also tell me that I only got my job through family connections. Nope. I am the first person in my family to work in media in any way.

• Reply
• Retweet
• Favorite
• More

Collapse

 

[Sue]

Oh dear.....

Don't think she gets it...

 

[Steel Icarus]

I'm sorry but I'm bloody sick of anonymous commenters telling me I can't have an opinion on anything because I grew up middle-class.

Many journalists come from far more privilege than me, don't even try to own it, and for some reason it's me who gets attacked. It's stupid.

To clear things up: commenters have no idea about how I grew up or how hard I worked to get here. I try to own and adjust for my privilege.

It takes nerve to carry on working when strangers tell you every day that you're an ignorant little girl and you don't deserve your job.

I'm sorry for this rant- I try not to complain about this too much because whinging that people attack you for your privilege ain't classy.

People also tell me that I only got my job through family connections. Nope. I am the first person in my family to work in media in any way.

People tell me that bcs I grew up middle class I'm a secret tory and will grow up to love capitalism. Those people can go fuck themselves.

I've met plenty of people who did get jobs in media through family connections. It's a problem. But I'm not one of them.

If we're only allowed to have the politics we were assigned at birth, we are truly fucked.

...and that's the rant over. Thanks for listening. Love you all. X

lololololololololol

 

[Lo Siento.]

lololololololololol

I'm pretty sure rule number one of the privilege game is not moaning about the side effects of your privilege.

 

[Pickman's model]

tbh afaic lp can have an opinion but it's a pity she rarely makes it one worth listening to.

 

[Favelado]

I'm pretty sure rule number one of the privilege game is not moaning about the side effects of your privilege.

Quite. A middle-class person lecturing other people when they challenge her privilege. Amazing work.

 

[J Ed]

I'm pretty sure rule number one of the privilege game is not moaning about the side effects of your privilege.

Doesn't count if your privilege is based on social class

 

[J Ed]

Notice how she says middle-class, not middle-class and privately educated. There's middle-class and lawyer parents and private schooling middle-class.

 

[DotCommunist]

commenters have no idea about how I grew up

oxford

 

[Favelado]

Notice how she says middle-class, not middle-class and privately educated. There's middle-class and lawyer parents and private schooling middle-class.

She also says she "grew up" middle class, which may even dare to suggest that she doesn't think she is now.

 

[Theisticle]

She no doubt receives some utterly horrific and disgusting misogynistic abuse but the short translation of that rant: I got called out for an article full of anecdotal evidence and clumsy prose (again).

 

[DotCommunist]

some of the comment threads appending LP articles are genuinely stuffed with people who you'd not only avoid pissing on if they were aflame, you'd be the one with the petrol and matches that caused the immolation.

 

[Balbi]

*waves at twitter again*

 

[xslavearcx]

what does 'owning' ones privledge mean anyhow?

 

[goldenecitrone]

I read one article of LPs in the Guardian. Never again. She's almost as dull as Bidisha.

 

[captainmission]

Writers of Colour ‏@WritersofColour1h

1. Well now you are where you are, you have the chance to spread whatever privilege you have & help others achieve similar or more @PennyRed
   
   Retweeted by Laurie Penny
2. Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed1h
   @WritersofColour well exactly, it's on everyone in a similar position to let down the ladder.

privilege theory meets trickle down economics

 

[J Ed]

privilege theory meets trickle down economics

...meets civilising missions. Holy shit.

 

[Lo Siento.]

what does 'owning' ones privledge mean anyhow?

I almost feel like giving her a bit of advice from one middle class wannabe revolutionary to another, like:
Dear Penny,
You'll do better if you:

1) Stop moaning about the side effects of your "privilege" as if they were really problem
2) Don't pretend you're poor. Ever. Just remember, this was written about you.
3) You know that "step back, shut up" thing that American intersectionalist types love. Do that. Difficult to do when your a journo, but maybe, just maybe, if some of your articles weren't actually about you, you could let other people talk a bit more through your platform.
4) Accept that lots of people will still think you're a twat and a wannable middle class revolutionary. And why shouldn't they? They're not obliged to like you or take you seriously just cause you've come down from on high to explain to them all about their terrible oppression. I mean you pretty much think they're supposed to despise the well-off anyway - so why should you exclude yourself from that?

Yours sincerely

Lo Siento.

That'd be a start for "owning your privilege" I reckon.

 

[weepiper]

OMG. Is that Laurie actually asking us to check our working class privilege?

 

[kavenism]

On the subject of curious manifestations of class consciousness (or unconsciousness in Penny's case) here's Mark Fisher (he of Capitalist Realism fame) shooting the shit on FB.

"This week it's Brand, soon it will be Katniss. But really they are all the faces of our class waking up and seeing the masters for what they are. We're rediscovering each other, and recognising the extent to which bourgeois liberals have kept us apart from one another while posing as radicals, and as our friends. Explosion in the heart of the commodity. Now everything is kicking off in the mainstream that they disdained."

This is part of over a week of public railing against the "PoshLeft" and something called the "Vampires Castle" by Fisher. I like his stance against against the media liberals, although he tends not to name names, but he seems to read something epoch making into Russell Brand's intervention which to my mind is a sign of desperation. He's pushing this Wounds of Class venture as a place to collect experiences emerging class consciousness. It's open to all.
http://woundsofclass.com/

"The site is guided by the thought that everyone, no matter what their background, is harmed by the class structure. It is hoped that Wounds of Class will be a space where people can share their experiences of the suffering caused by the class structure. Anyone who would like to post on the site is encouraged to email woundsofclass@gmail.com"

The first post does well to remind us that some people get nervous in tea rooms, don't they.
I'm thinking of posting my experience of being scoffed at by a Waitrose employee for not knowing the difference between Kalamata and Sicilian Green olives. The wounds run deep.

 

[Frances Lengel]

I read one article of LPs in the Guardian. Never again. She's almost as dull as Bidisha.

That's going a bit too far.

And, IMO, giving yourself a one word name is an infinitely worse sin than being a middle class wannabee revolutionary. Any day.

 

[Nice one]

On the subject of curious manifestations of class consciousness (or unconsciousness in Penny's case) here's Mark Fisher (he of Capitalist Realism fame) shooting the shit on FB.



This is part of over a week of public railing against the "PoshLeft" and something called the "Vampires Castle" by Fisher. I like his stance against against the media liberals, although he tends not to name names, but he seems to read something epoch making into Russell Brand's intervention which to my mind is a sign of desperation. He's pushing this Wounds of Class venture as a place to collect experiences emerging class consciousness. It's open to all.
http://woundsofclass.com/



The first post does well to remind us that some people get nervous in tea rooms, don't they.
I'm thinking of posting my experience of being scoffed at by a Waitrose employee for not knowing the difference between Kalamata and Sicilian Green olives. The wounds run deep.

that's a nice little article